The rurAllure network contributing to the renaissance of pilgrimage culture in Europe – A case of the Way of Mary

Abstract

The paper discusses the possibilities of using religious tourism to achieve several objectives related to the field of tourism in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia on the Central European Way of Mary. Content analysis was used to explore the following features of the rurAllure project: highlighting the cultural and natural heritage along the pilgrimage road and contributing to the development of regional business; offering various thematic routes to the pilgrims, and fostering slow tourism. The research showed how unified, as well as diverse, the individual paths of the Way of Mary in the three European countries are. The variety of geographical and cultural specificities is underlined by the attractiveness of slow tourism along the Way of Mary in Hungary, Transylvania and Slovakia.